Washington DC – NASA’s Hubble Telescope has completed 25 years of relentless service, capturing majestic views of the planet and the universe. On its inception during the 19th century, Hubble Space Telescope had taken a majestic view of the entire planetary nebula and the remains of a Sun-like star.
One of the four siblings revolving in the outer space, Hubble celebrates its 25th anniversary during this week. Way back during the inception, NASA had commissioned “Great Observatories”— designed and built to study varied wavelengths of light during the 1980s.
Hubble is one of the 4 Great Observatories. Others that came into the realm of existence are Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, between 1990 and 2003.
Hubble was launched by NASA on April 24, 1990. It has four scientific instruments allowing due observation not only near a normal light, but also near infrared and ultraviolet. The telescope has helped comprehend the age of our Universe and what the quasars are. Besides, it also helped discover dark energy.
Other satellites like CGRO studies exotic objects located in far-out space, dark matter, blazars, magnetars and cosmic rays. On the other hand, Chandra X-ray detects x-rays from exploded stars, galaxies and present matter prevalent around black holes.
Spitzer is the youngest of the lot and was launched for detecting infrared light, dwarfed failed stars, clouds of dust and gas, organic molecules and radiation from heat.
Hubble and its ilk have helped astronomers collect data sets and fascinating images of the spectacular universe. There is a plethora of images that NASA shares with all and sundry. Images shared comprise the beautiful outer-space, falling stars, galaxies, Milky Way, the birth of young stars, x-rays of remnants of supernova and so on.
The world and NASA have learnt about outer space primarily owing to the four Great Observatories, Hubble being the oldest.
